Apparatus for extracting liquid from cloth

ABSTRACT

This invention provides a method and apparatus which may be used for vacuum extraction of liquids. The method comprises applying a radially outwardly directed vacuum suction force to cloth in rope form which has been treated with any desired solution and has said liquid content absorbed thereon. The apparatus comprises a vacuum vessel, a pipe body installed in and across said vacuum vessel and having a plurality of slits or openings formed in the peripheral wall thereof to establish communication between the interior and exterior of the pipe body, and means whereby cloth in rope form treated with any desired solution and having said liquid content absorbed thereon is moved through said pipe body at a suitable speed.

Watanabe [451 May 8, 1973 [54] APPARATUS FOR EXTRACTING LIQUID FROMCLOTH [7 51 Inventor: Gentaro Watanabe, Kyoto, Japan [73] Assignee:Uenoyama Kiko Co., Ltd., Kyoto,

Japan [22] Filed: Dec. 4, 1970 [21] Appl. No.: 95,243

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data 2,117,603 5/1938 Dungler ..57/1UN 2,304,474 12/1942 Poesl ..68/D1G. I

FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 1,101,341 3/1961 Germany ..68/20 PrimaryExaminer-William F. ODea Assistant ExaminerWilliam C. AndersonAtt0rneyMorgan, Finnegan, Durham & Pine [57] ABSTRACT This inventionprovides a method and apparatus which may be used for vacuum extractionof liquids. The method comprises applying a radially outwardly directedvacuum suction force to cloth in rope form which has been treated withany desired solution and has said liquid content absorbed thereon. Theapparatus comprises a vacuum vessel, a pipe body installed in and acrosssaid vacuum vessel and having a plurality of slits or openings formed inthe peripheral wall thereof to establish communication between theinterior and exterior of the pipe body, and means whereby cloth in ropeform treated with any desired solution and having said liquid contentabsorbed thereon is moved through said pipe body at a suitable speed.

4 Claims, 8 Drawing Figures PATENTED MAY 8 I973 SHEET 2 OF 3 FIG. 5B

APPARATUS FOR EXTRACTING LIQUID FROM CLOTH BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONthe like) and has a substantial amount of liquid content 0 absorbedthereon.

Heretofore, such extraction of liquids from cloth in rope form has beencarried out mostly either by a system in which cloth is pressed by arubber roll to extract the liquid content (padder system) or by a systemin which cloth is put in a rotary tank to centrifugally extract theliquid content (centrifugal hydroextraction). The two systems, thoughdiffering in form from each other, are based on the application of aforce specifically a compressive force to cloth in rope form which tendsto reduce the diameter (or thickness) thereof. Consequently, thisresults in a wrinkled cloth, which is most undesirable.

In view of the above mentioned difficulty which is inherent in theconventional liquid extracting systems, it is a principal object of theinvention to provide a method and an apparatus whereby the liquid inwhich has cloth a treating liquid content absorbed thereon, can becontinuously extracted without creating any wrinkles.

In view of the fact that the major cause of creating wrinkles in theconventional system is the pressing of cloth to reduce its diameter(thickness) as described above, it is another object of the invention toprovide a method of and an apparatus for extracting liquids, consistingin applying a force which, contrarily, tends to increase the diameter(thickness) of cloth.

In view of the fact that if the extraction of liquids from cloth in ropeform is effected in a condition in which the twist imparted thereto hasbeen eliminated, the liquid in the central region can also be extracted,it is an object of the invention to provide a liquid extractingapparatus having an untwisting action.

Further, in view of the fact that since liquid extracting treatment, asviewed from another aspect, has the merit of destroying the adhesionforce exerted in cloth in rope form, the incorporation of such liquidextracting treatment in the scutching treatment step facilitates thescutching treatment. If liquid extracting treatment is effected in saidscutching, step. The untwisting of cloth in rope form which is essentialto the scutching of cloth in rope form can be effected along with liquidextraction. This will permit the carrying out of the processing stepssuch as dyeing, washing with water, etc. and the scutching step in asingle continuous line.

Further, it is also an object of the invention to provide a liquidextracting apparatus which is simple in construction and inexpensive,

SUMMARY OF INVENTION In order to achieve the above mentioned objects,this invention provides a method of extracting liquids from cloth inrope form characterized in that it comprises applying a radiallyoutwardly directed vacuum suction force to cloth in rope form treatedwith any desired solution and having the liquid content absorbedthereon.

Further, according to the invention, there is provided an apparatus forembodying said method comprising a vacuum vessel, a pipe body installedin and across said vacuum vessel and having a plurality of slots oropenings formed in the peripheral wall thereof to establishcommunication between the interior and exterior of the pipe body, andmeans whereby cloth treated with any desired solution and having saidliquid content absorbed thereon is moved through said pipe body at asuitable speed. It is desirable that said pipe body have a plurality ofinward projections each provided with a plurality of slots or openings.Further, the disposition of the pipe body in the vacuum vessel may beeffected either by a fixed support or by a rotatable support, butpreferably the latter arrangement is employed along with means forpositively driving the pipe body.

Embodiments and examples of practical application of the apparatus ofthis invention will be described in the concrete with reference to theaccompanying drawings (like parts being indicated by like referencecharacters).

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a longitudinal section of abasic example of the liquid extracting apparatus of this invention;

FIGS. 2 and 3 are longitudinal sections of modified forms of pipe bodyused in the liquid extracting apparatus of this invention;

FIG. 4 is a view of a modification of the liquid extracting apparatussimilar to FIG. 1;

FIGS. 5A, 5B and 6A, 6B show examples in which the liquid extractingapparatus of this invention is applied to scutchers, wherein A's areside views of the principal portion and Bs are plan views.

DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS First, referring to FIG. 1, there isillustrated a basic example of the liquid extracting apparatus of thisinvention, wherein the numeral 1 1 denotes a vacuum vessel and 13denotes a pipe body, with means for moving cloth (CL) in rope form beingomitted. The vacuum vessel 11 is provided with an opening 12 in thelower part of the left-hand side so that the air in the vessel is suckedout by a vacuum pump (not shown) through said opening 12. The wall ofthe pipe body is formed with slots or openings 14 spaced at givenintervals in a substantially uniform pattern over the entire area. Thepipe body 13 is installed in the vacuum vessel 11 by a fitting methodand at the opposite ends thereof there are guide pipes 15 fixed to thelateral walls of the vacuum vessel II by set screws 16 so as to beconnected to the pipe body. The fitting disposition of the pipe body inthe vacuum vesselll, or an arrangement permitting removal thereof, isfrom the consideration of exchange of the pipe body 13. Such arrangementpermits selective exchange for a pipe body 13 having a diameter suitablefor the size (thickness) of cloth in rope form required in practice foreffecting efficient suction-extraction of liquids.

The apparatus in the basic example is arranged in the manner describedabove, when the cloth (CL) in rope form is being introduced into thepipe body 13 with the vacuum pump (not shown) operating, the cloth (CL)is caused to have its diameter increased-by the vacuum ment iscontinuously carried out without creating any wrinkles.

FIGS. 2 and 3 illustrate two preferred modifications of the pipe body 13of the apparatus of this invention. The pipe bodies 13 shown in therespective Figures each have a plurality of inward projections 17 eachformed with a plurality of openings 14 (which may be replaced by slits).The inward projections 17 are formed by the root of an external screwthread in the case of FIG. 2, whereas in the case of FIG. 3, they areformed in such a manner that the right and left wall regions of a pipeare alternately cut out at a given pitch and the cutouts are closed withmembers 18 substantially conforming in shape to the cutouts. Thus whenthe pipe body 13 is used, the portions which exert vacuum suction forceson the cloth project into the pipe and as a result, the cloth adhereswell to said portions, so that a condition suitable for suction andextraction of the absorbed liquid content exists and in view of thisgood form of adherence it is possible to achieve satisfactory extractionof liquids even when the diameter (thickness) of the cloth in rope formis considerably smaller than the diameter of the pipe. That is,

the advantage is obtained that the extraction of liquids from varioussizes of cloth in rope form is possible.

Further, the pipe body shown in FIG. 2 may be easily produced, e.g., by(a) cutting in a roll (made of iron) a screw thread corresponding to theshape of the undulations on the surface of the pipe body, (b) applying acopper plating with a thickness of l 1.5 mm or more, over the entiresurface of said roll, applying engraving corresponding to the openingsin the pipe body to the copper matrix of the root of the screw thread bya knurling mill method, (d) charging said engraved portions with a resin(phenol, epoxy or the like) and polishing the surface, (e) applying anickel plating with a thickness of 0.08 1 mm over the entire surface (itbeing noted that no such plating will deposit where the resin isexposed), and (f) withdrawing the layer of platin g by rotating it alongthe root of the screw thread.

FIG. 4 shows a modification of the apparatus, wherein the pipe body 13which is the same as the one shown in FIG. 3 is adapted to be rotativelydriven. The pipe body 13 is rotatably mounted in the vacuum vessel 11through guide pipes 15, a pulley l9 driven, eg by a belt from a suitabledriving mechanism, fastening members 20, bearings 21, hearing supports22 and bearing clamps 23. In FIG. 4, the numeral 24 denotes an O- ring;25a, a seal packing: and a numeral 25b denotes a packing. According tosuch rotative driven arrangement for the pipe body, the cloth (CL)introduced into the pipe body is attracted to the inner peripheralsurface (in this case, the inward projections 17 by the vacuum suctionforce and is rotated substantially integrally with the pipe body 13.Therefore, by suitably selecting the direction of rotation of the pipebody, it is possible to eliminate the twist imparted to the cloth (CL).Since such untwisting action, as viewed from the aspect of theextraction of liquids, contributes to increasing the working areaprovided by the vacuum suction force, there is achieved a faster andmore efficient liquid extracting treatment. Moreover, since untwistingis related to scutching as described below, the very useful advantage isobtained that the liquid extractingapparatus of this construction can beused as a component of a scutcher.

Finally, the fact that if the liquid extracting apparatus of thisinvention will be used a very desirable convenient scutcher is obtainedwhich is described with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6. A scutcher shown inFIG. 5A will first be described. This is characterized in that disposedabove a turntable 27 for placing thereon a truck 26 carrying cloth (CL)in rope form containing a treating liquid and in the place of a guide ora tension adjusting device called a pot eye in the conventionalscutcher, is a liquid extracting apparatus (LE) of this invention withthe pipe body fixed to the vacuum vessel. To explain the overallarrangement in detail, in FIG. 5B the numeral 28 denotes a vacuum pump;29, a pipe interconnecting the liquid extracting apparatus (LE) and thevacuum pump 29; 30, a frame for the scutcher; and the numerals 31 and 32denote an arm and a tumbuckel, respectively, connected to the frame atone of their respective ends. The liquid extracting apparatus (LE) isfixed in any desired position above the turntable 27 by these members insuch a manner that the axis of the liquid extracting apparatus extendssubstantially vertically. The numeral 33 denotes a handdrum-shaped guidereel, disposed, e.g. about 7 m above the level of the floor (FL) andheld by a bracket 34 secured to the ceiling or the like. The numeral 35denotes a mechanism for detecting the amount of twist of cloth, securedlikewise to the bracket 34. The detecting mechanism 35, which hasheretofore been generally used for such purpose, is so constructed that,though not shown in detail, it detects the amount of twist of cloth bythe restoring force of the twist exerted when the cloth is in its freestate at a level of about 7m. The detecting mechanism is interlockedwith a reversible motor 36 which drives the turntable 27, in such amanner that the turntable 27 can be driven forwardly or reversely inaccordance with the detected amount of twist so as to eliminate thetwist of the cloth. The numeral 37 denotes a cloth guider for guidingcloth by gripping the opposite lateral edges thereon; 38, a guide roll;and the numeral 39 denotes a folding mechanism consisting of a wheel 40,a pressing roll 41 and delivery rolls 42, and driven by driving means43. Further, the numeral 44 denotes a supply water tank for the vacuumpump 28 and 45 denotes a control box.

According to the scutcher arranged in the manner described above, cloth(CL) which is received in the truck 26 placed on the turntable 27 andwhich contains a treating liquid such as washing water for dye solutionis subjected to a liquid extracting action in the manner described aboveat the liquid extracting apparatus (LE) of this invention immediatelyafter it leaves the truck 26, thus establishing a condition in which thestrong adhesion force due to the treating liquid being contained asobserved in the conventional scutching process is completely eliminated.As a result, the cloth (CL) leaving the liquid extracting apparatus (LE)has its twist eliminated in a very simple manner between the apparatus(LE) and the detecting mechanism 35 by the actuation of the reversiblemotor 36 by the detection signal from the mechanism 35 indicating theamount of twist, followed by the forward or reverse rotation of theturntable 27, and on the other hand between the mechanism 35 and thecloth guider 37 it is scutched also in a very easy manner. Further, thisarrangement of the liquid extracting apparatus (LE) provides theadvantage that there is no difficulty, which has heretofore beenobserved during untwisting and scutching of cloth, of dye liquid,washing water, etc. spattering over the floor, etc. in the workshop andthereby contaminating the working environment. The cloth which has beenvery simply untwisted and scutched in the manner described above isdownwardly guided with the opposite lateral edges thereof gripped by thecloth guider 37 and is then passed via the roll 38 to be fed to thefolding mechanism 39, wherefrom it is progressively thrown off towardthe floor (FL), thus completing the scutching operation.

Next, the scutcher shown in FIG. 6 will now be described. This ischaracterized in that the truck, the turntable for placing it thereonand the pot eye provided in the conventional arrangement are replaced bya liquid extracting apparatus (LE) of this invention. The FIG. 6arrangement differs from the FIG. 5 arthe advantage that very efficientscutching operation can be carried out, as will be easily understoodwithout going into details.

Further, concerning the scutcher shown in FIG. 6, although the advantagethat processing treatment steps such as dyeing and washing with wateretc. and the scutching step are made continuous is lost, a modificationis possible such that the guide roller 46 is omitted and instead a truckis used from which cloth to be scutched is introduced into the liquidextracting apparatus LE.

While a basic example and modifications of the apparatus of thisinvention have been described so far, it goes without saying that inorder to carry out more efficient liquid extraction in this liquidextracting apparatus, it is necessary to suitably set differentcondirangement in that with the turntable and truck omitted,

cloth (CL) which has under-gone dyeing, washing and other processingtreatments is introduced directly into the liquid extracting apparatus(LE), that the liquid extracting apparatus (LE), which is secured to thefront end of an arm 48 fixed to a horizontal frame 47, is adapted to bedriven for forward and reverse rotation by a reversible motor 49 mountedon the arm 47 through a belt, and that said reversible motor 49 is in:terlocked with the detecting mechanism 35 in the same relation theturntable 27 shown in FIG. 5. According to the scutcher thus arranged,in addition, to freedom from obstructions to untwisting operation andfrom contamination of working environment due to the treating solutioncontained in the cloth as in the case of the arrangement shown in FIG.5, since processing treatment steps such as dyeing and washing withwater etc. and untwisting and scutching steps can be carried outcontinuously in contrast with noncontinuous treatment as in FIG. 5 andin the prior art, there is obtained tions such as the degree of vacuumin the vacuum vessel, the speed at which cloth in rope form is movedthrough the pipe body and, in the case of rotating the pipe body, thedirection of rotation and the rotative speed thereof.

What I claim is:

1. Apparatus for extracting a liquid from cloth treated with said liquidand having said liquid content absorbed thereon comprising a vacuumvessel, an elongated tubular member arranged within said vacuum vesseland having a plurality of inwardly projected portions which areapertured with a plurality of openings, said inwardly projected portionsbeing spaced at given intervals in a substantially uniform pattern overthe entire area of the wall surface thereof so that radially outwardlydirected vacuum suction force is supplied through the said openings insaid inwardly projected portions to the inside of said tubular memberand means for pulling said cloth in a generally rope-shaped form throughsaid tubular member.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1 in which said projected portions areformed in a continuous spiral form.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1 in which said projections are arrangedin a spaced relationship in directions parallel to the axis of saidtubular member.

4. Apparatus according to claim 1 in which said tubular member iscarried for rotation about its axis within said vacuum vessel so thatsaid cloth in a ropeshaped form may be untwisted.

1. Apparatus for extracting a liquid from cloth treated with said liquidand having said liquid content absorbed thereon comprising a vacuumvessel, an elongated tubular member arranged within said vacuum vesseland having a plurality of inwardly projected portions which areapertured with a plurality of openings, said inwardly projected portionsbeing spaced at given intervals in a substantially uniform pattern overthe entire area of the wall surface thereof so that radially outwardlydirected vacuum suction force is supplied through the said openings insaid inwardly projected portions to the inside of said tubular memberand means for pulling said cloth in a generally ropeshaped form throughsaid tubular member.
 2. Apparatus according to claim 1 in which saidprojected portions are formed in a continuous spiral form.
 3. Apparatusaccording to claim 1 in which said projections are arranged in a spacedrelationship in directions parallel to the axis of said tubular member.4. Apparatus according to claim 1 in which said tubular member iscarried for rotation about its axis within said vacuum vessel so thatsaid cloth in a rope-shaped form may be untwisted.